Combined baby pants and diaper



Oct. 17, 1933. POTWlN 1,931,357

COMBINED BABY PANTS AND DIAPER Filed Aug. 6, 1929 Patented Oct. 17, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to improvements in baby pants or diapers, and more especially to a combined baby pants and diaper.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide baby pants comprising a sanitary guard or cover, and an absorbent pad, the parts being so combined that the pad may be readily removed, for destruction if desired, after it has become soiled.

Generally, babies pants include a diaper of some suitable soft absorbent cloth, and a cover either made of rubberized material, or lined with rubberized material. When such a combination is used, and the diaper is soiled, it becomes necessary to wash the diaper for reuse. Another object of the invention is to provide a garment which will eliminate this distasteful task.

A further object is to furnish baby pants including a rubberized guard or cover provided with suitable fasteners to be used in securing the cover to the child, and also adapted for securing within the cover, a lining or pad of soft absorbent inexpensive material, which may be discarded without material loss, after a single use.

With the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawing, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a plan view of my improved baby pants in open form, and with the absorbent pad superposed on the open cover or guard.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the garment in partially closed. condition.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the absorbent pad.

Fig. 4 is a side view of the pants in closed condition.

In the drawing, 5 indicates a cover or guard which may be formed of rubberized cloth or may be of some other textile material lined with rubberized cloth. The edges of the guard blank are bound with a suitable strip 6 to protect the raw edges and provide a suitable border. Each end portion of the blank has a curved edge 7 shaped to fit a childs body, and the side edges 8, which merge into the ends 7, diverge away from the ends, and the diverging edges are joined by curved edges 9 that are designed to encircle the babys limbs.

Any suitable means may be employed to secure the guard on the baby, but I prefer to use snap fasteners of the head and socket type. Two of the head members 10 of such fasteners are attached to the inner surface of the guard, near the ends of the upper curved edge '7 of the same, and cooperate with socket members 11 which are attached to the outer surface of the end portions of the opposite edge 7. These fastening elements 10, 11, secure the edges '7 about the waist of the infant.

At the corners 12, where the edges 8 and 9 66 merge into one another, I arrange the heads 13 of larger snap fasteners attached to the inner surface of the garment, and these elements 13 are adapted to engage socket members 14 which are similarly located at the opposite end por- 70 tion of the guard, but attached to the outer surface of the latter.

Such an arrangement as this permits the portions of the guard having the diverging edges 8, to overlap when the garment is placed on a child, and allows these overlapping edges to be secured together by the snap fasteners which are substantially concealed by the arrangement of mounting which I have employed.

With a guard of this character, I combine a lining or absorbent pad 15, which is preferably made of an absorbent filling 16, formed either of raw cotton, or soft blotting paper, or a combination of the two, and covered with cotton gauze 17. Such material as this is sold today on the open market, and is so inexpensive, that when once used, it may be discarded or destroyed. Such material usually comes in sheet form, with the filling enclosed within a tubular piece of gauze. From such sheet material, the blanks forming my pads may be cut. For example, the sheet may be cut transversely along opposite curved lines 19, which will conform to the curved edges 9 of the guard, and at the comers of such blank, I secure four cloth rings 20. When the pad is superposed on the open guard, the rings 20 will overlie the snap fasteners 13 and 14, and the two upper rings may be slipped over the prongs or heads of the fastening elements 13. This position of the assem- 1 blage is shown in Fig. 1, and in that position, if we assume an infant is placed in proper position on the garment, the lower edge portion of the pad may be folded upwardly to bring the lower rings 20 into engagement with the heads of the fastening elements 13. In doing this, the edges 19 of the pad will be caused to encircle the limbs of the child. Now the lower portion of the guard may be folded upwardly, so as to join the fastening elements 13 and 14,

and in doing this, the rings 20 will be clamped in position between these fastening elements. Finally, the fastening elements 10 and 11 are snapped together, and this completes the placing of the garment on the child.

When such an assemblage is worn, the pad will absorb water from the body, and the guard will prevent such moisture from seeping out of the enclosure. Furthermore, should the child have an evacuation, the garment may be readily removed, and as soon as the fastening elements 13 and 14 are detached from one another, the pad may be immediately removed from the guard and destroyed.

By arranging two of the head members 10 of the snap fasteners in spaced relation at each end portion of the curved edge '7, and similarly arranging the fastening elements 11 on the opposite edge, much better joints or connections are provided than if only single snap fasteners were used at each'side of the garment for this purpose. Where a single snap fastener is employed, it is well known that when the connected elements or. parts are pulled away from each other, the axis of the snap fastener is thrown into a line parallel to the line of pull, and consequently, the fastener is separated. On the other hand, when two snap fasteners are used instead of one, and these snap fasteners are spaced apart, any pulling on the connected portions of the garment will be directed at angles to the axes of the snap fasteners, so that the elements of each snap fastener will tend to adhere to one another rather than to separate;

From the foregoing it is believed that the construction of my improved garment and the advantages thereof may be readily understood by those familiar with such garments, and I am aware that changes may be made in the details disclosed, without departing from the spirit of the invention, as expressed in the claim.

.While it is preferred to form the pad of absorbent material such as hereinbefore mentioned and enclosed in a cotton gauze casing as before described and illustrated, yet the pad may be composed of any suitable cellulose product, or other suitable absorbent material, or combination of materials with or without an enclosing envelope, and be embraced within the scope of my invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A garment of the character described, comprising a moisture proof body portion having its opposite side edges curved inwardly and also having endwise extending portions to embrace the body of a wearer of the garment, the inwardly curved side edges defining leg openings when the body portion is folded on a medial transverse line, a readily detachable absorbent pad adapted to lie loosely upon the inner face of the body portion, separable fastenings for securing together the meeting edges of the body portion when folded, and separable fastening members on the body portion disposed to engage substantially the corners of the absorbent pad and hold the pad in place when the body portion is substantially flat and also when both body portion and pad are folded on a transverse medial line, the latter fastenings also serving to hold the garment to the body of a wearer when in use and permitting ready detachment of the pad from the body portion when to be replaced with another pad.

MARJORIE A. POTWIN. 

